Frequently companies have data that they want only authorized persons to be able to access. Typically the data is encrypted to prevent unauthorized people from accessing the data. Keys are used to encrypt data. Encrypted data cannot be read unless it is decrypted with keys.
A key is typically difficult to remember or to type. Therefore, information technology (IT) personnel typically use what is known as “an alias” instead of a corresponding key. For example, the IT personnel may type an alias instead of the corresponding key when there is a need to encrypt or decrypt data, among other things. A key alias can be used to identify the appropriate key for encrypting data. A key and its corresponding alias shall be referred to as a “key-alias pair.”